ABSTRACT
Chapter 6 analyzes how Teach For China engages public participation as an organization. This chapter starts with an explanation of public participation and its importance, drawing on deliberative democratic theory. It then provides an overview of the public sphere in China in relation to the state. The author argues that Teach For China has opened spaces for public participation by creating a platform for deliberation and by contributing educational resources that are less tightly controlled by the state. However, Teach For China’s leadership structure and its recruitment and selection approach limit the inclusivity of the spaces it creates. In contrast, Teach For America, as part of the larger neoliberal reform movement, has weakened channels for public participation in education through the weakening of teachers’ unions, evasion from public transparency and accountability, and marketization of education services.
